[OT from cottage renovations]
in response to listserv queries about conditions at the lake.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
this weekend's snow allowed for the revival of an old tradition, that of creating a toboggan run on the back steps. anybody can shovel snow off their steps, but to do this right one is best off piling the snow onto the steps as well as along the slope out back. the back deck always accumulates an excess of snow that's readily available for the purpose.
with the Wonder Boy off pursuing graduate studies in Gotham it fell to the current generation of neighbourhood children to take the first trips down; with each one the ramp get better and they went further and faster, as can be seen below:
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| a couple of good runs | |
with 22 -> 24 inches of snow having fallen there was plenty left over for eating ...
... and for targets of opportunity
good news: the snow passed the taste test.
the sled run will remain in place and available as a public nuisance convenience as long as conditions permit.
anybody who's passing by is encouraged to make use of it though you'll have to BYO sled -- it's been a few years since we've kept one around.
[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
itsinthedetails]
(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)
this image is actually from a couple of weeks ago but I hadn't gotten around to putting it in this space.
I'm not quite sure what it was about it that caught my eye, but I found it oddly appealing. your mileage may vary -- that's OK as it's all in the eye of the beholder.
[OT from cottage renovations]
given how ridiculously soggy wet this year has been it really didn't come as a surprise when the temperature went down for the precipitation to have continued.
it was a very quiet day here in the Grove, most folks having the sense to stay indoors.
the only people I saw abroad had snow shovels, sleds or cross country skis.
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there are some images that I haven't had the sense to get past taking, and this is one of them. of note is that the snowcap on the porch roof has drifted up above the bottom of the upper front window; it is odd to look out through it and have the view partially obstructed by snow.
of course. what else were you expecting?
with no events going on in the Town Hall the snow was drifting up to its porch. the sign in front, the flag and the brick chimney provide the only chromatic highlights in an otherwise highly subdued scene.
another iconic image, we seem to have some severe repetition settling in here. the large oak growing up through Mimi's porch is framed by lesser trees in the foreground; that one on the R with its leaves doesn't do much for the image but I was neither able to crop it out nor willing to remove it digitally (not that I wasn't tempted, but perhaps tomorrow will afford a chance to go back and find a better location from which to try again with this image).
unlikely though it may seem to those who know the setting well, this has become one of my favourite views within the Grove: looking down Acorn Lane across Chestnut Avenue and the church parking lot into the West Woods. this is another image I've tried to capture at different times but it can be a challenge to compose -- I wanted it to be about depth as well as height so it needed more cropping to the R than I would have liked.
if you think you've seen this before, you're right.
crank the wayback machine to April 2006 (and scroll to the bottom of the entry).
holiday lights shine brightly on the façade of Hutch and Linda's cottage.
[OT from cottage renovations]
the snow moved on and the following day wasn't quite as warm as predicted, which meant that the snow was taking its own time about melting off. clumps of it remained in the tops of the trees, trapped in the interstices out at the edges and presenting a completely misleading appearance of abundant spring blossoms.
surely if one waits long enough that will happen, but not just yet.
(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)
[OT from cottage renovations]
we don't often get snow this early in the season, and if tomorrow's forecast holds it will be melted before the day is out.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
the snow accretes to good effect onto twigs, leaves and berries.
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lonicera |
the reason for heading out in the first place was to see what effect the snow squalls and lighting were having on the treeline between the upper and (what remains of the) lower fields. these thumbnails really don't do justice to the moody atmosphere ... click on through for a better view.
walking on through the break, nearly ignored by a few deer ambling by, for once I found the highway interchange construction project to be neither an auditory nor a visual blight.
the upper field's most prominent tree presented a ghostly aspect, snow and light combining in a way that made it impossible to stop for just one image.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
random notes from this year's thanksgiving
[OT from cottage renovations]
my favourite grad student blew into town last night; his trek down from Gotham brought him into the Grove after midnight. he brought a small mountain of dirty laundry (already washed), an appetite (seen to in the short run by a late dinner) and a ton of school work (which he will be tackling over the next few days before he goes back).
it is such a pleasure to have him back. there's nothing like the return of family to put one into the right mode for the holiday.
Alice's large plant has moved up in the world cottage ...
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... leaving a lot more space in the front room and subtracting less than I had anticipated from the loft.
[OT from cottage renovations]
the Grove's hostas often have variegated leaves, some of them quite spectacular. give them enough time and the hydrangeas can often do nearly as well though only at end of life.
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Monday's watery sunlight passing through the same leaf as seen against different backgrounds.
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| hydrangea | |
this is in its own way an historic event: the first time that stupid T-111 siding on the newer parts of the place has been useful for anything.
[OT from cottage renovations]
in the side yard there's a forsythia that often fumbles the seasonal transitions by flowering in the fall as well as in the spring.
one difference is the year's first blooms come before the leaves are out whereas the second round turns up when the leaves are going through the annual colour change.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
[OT from cottage renovations]
it's been three decades since relocating from southern California (it's interesting that one says "out West" and "back East" but never the other way around) and though for quite some time I maintained a bi-coastal life and outlook, somewhere along the way the centre of gravity shifted this way; nowadays when I'm out there for one or another reason the place has become quite unfamiliar and one feels closer to what it once was than to what it has become.
even so, the experience of living there is transformational and one needn't be an NSGW to have some form of attachments that persist across space and time.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
not quite in the Grove, but just across the tracks, next to Hershey's parking lot a clump of California poppies has settled in from goodness-knows-where and is happily in full bloom even in early November. though quite common out there it is remarkable to find them around here and for once my usual horrified reaction to invasive species is overridden by welcome. they are notoriously difficult to transplant so these must have shown up as seeds; as to their manner of arrival one can only speculate.
I've kept an eye on these for a couple of weeks and last Sunday I finally went down there for a closer look in the last of the afternoon light.
[OT from cottage renovations]
last weekend provided an opportunity for a day trip to visit my favourite graduate student up in New York; I had been meaning to go up for the purpose sooner, but the demands of his academic schedule have been running him pretty ragged and it took rather a while for his schedule to clear up.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
(image crossposted to doorwindowwall)
I'm guessing the rest of us are supposed to wait outside the waiting room.
or not wait.
or something.
the first time I got there, it was too late.
not a problem with the train, which the Penn Central had brought in right on time; but it was two years after the station was demolished.
Pennsylvania Station was designed for a 500-year service life but lasted only a tenth of that and the vestigial rail terminals make no sense without everything that once stood above ground to pull them together.
as a result I've never had much use for Madison Square Garden though I do seem to recall watching the Russian Circus perform there in the early 1970s.
ducking up to street level the most bizarre facility reuse became obvious: a new bumper car concession.
finally, something useful:
except that, whoops, it was just a small herd of forklifts for some passing show's roadies. nonetheless, as so often happens, consolation was to be found in detail:
it's always so cool to see a buccaneer-American (we do prefer the hyphenated form, thank you) getting in touch with his or her inner piratical self.
so the obvious question arose: what to do? the Wonder Boy expressed a wish to visit the airport that never was, so off we headed to check out what might remain of the airship terminal that was planned and actually built (but never used) atop the Empire State Building. yeah, an obviously cheesy touristy thing to do, but what's the harm in that?
the 86th floor observation deck was supposed to hold a ticket counter, passenger lobby and customs area.
however iconic the view there's no reason not to stop and look gawk.
(image crossposted to doorwindowwall)
the arrival and departure gate was a small round room on the 102nd floor. the hoped-for airships never came (however cool it was actually a pretty stupid idea) and the space ended up housing radio and television transmitters. lots of them. accordingly there's one heck of an antenna farm up there; here's a bit of detail of the top of just one:
(image crossposted to itsinthedetails)
the increased elevation provides an even better view: looking to the S a famous silhouette stands in the harbour:
before we leave, just one for the camera ...
Central Park is visible in the distance to the R; his student apartment would be a bit above the outer edge of the hood of his sweatshirt.
[OT from cottage renovations]
a few weekends ago a working party in the East Woods provided the opportunity for some incidental photots -- incidental because by the time I wandered over there it was mostly over.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
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| let the chips fly | slow release |
| L: | bark chips are flying as volunteers spread mulch along one of the trails |
| R: | nearby, a different species of volunteer is doing its bit to bring about the slow release of nutrients into the soil |
[OT from cottage renovations]
one of the high points of the reception following the halloween parade came when the children sat down in a circle for a spooky story -- with a tactile and olfactory overlay that produced these facial expressions:
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[OT from cottage renovations]
it's taken a rainy day off to get around to putting up these images, which means that by now they have shifted from current events into the historical record.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
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| the mask | starship trooper of the galaxy rangers |
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| go-go girl | spinning a web? or trapped in one? |
a skeleton most piratical |
[OT from cottage renovations]
(adapted from a comment left in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gracegiver's journal)
when I was a kid my dad worked for General Electric; the corporate culture contained a strong holdover of the long-running rivalry with Westinghouse that had as its origin the personal animosity between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.
habits when deeply ingrained are difficult to overcome, and for me one of them is that whenever I need a light bulb of course it has to have the G.E. logo on it. the problem is that around here most of the retail outlets have taken to carrying Sylvania ones instead. logic and reason dictate that those non-brand bulbs are not in any technical way deficient, but even so I can't bring myself to buy one. standing in the supermarket aisle and reaching out my hand for a light bulb, but not being able to muster enough force of will to actually place that competitor's product in the basket, I am struck by the incongruity of the situation even as I am powerless to change it. this is habit of long standing: my father left G.E. back in the 1970s and passed away 17 years ago.
a Westinghouse light bulb?
no way.
no effin' way.
[OT from cottage renovations]
one afternoon of non-rain was all it took to allow some beautiful light.
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Japanese Maple leaves when stacked allow layers of light to create compositions like this.
this oak leaf with acorn cap is about as evocative of the Grove as anything could get.
the bittersweet seems to be coming along sooner than usual this year -- or perhaps I just haven't been paying enough attention to the passage of time.
this corner of the upper field is slated for residential development at the hands of the Toll Bros. my own (and strong) preference is for it to stay the way it is, but that doesn't seem to be an option. this view won't last much longer; that it remains at all is an artifact of recent economic distress.
Ridge Road has two sharp bends, the first of which exceeds 90° and is colloquially known as "big bend". before the Town got around to resolving drainage issues the body of water that could be found there after a goodly rain was known as "big bend lake".
big bend is marked by this large maple, caught at its brilliant best in Sunday afternoon's sweetlight. for me even the power lines don't detract from the setting, rather they seem to help frame the treetop.
[OT from cottage renovations]
new camera, trying to get the hang of which by way of these test shots taken last Friday.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
